People at the Core: Soulful Quality Improvement and Reflexive Nursing Leadership.

The integration of quality improvement (QI) into healthcare has become progressively common. Nurse leaders are foundational to balancing the paradox of efficiency-cost metrics and people-centred outcomes. This critical discussion challenges superficial engagement with QI activities and mechanical application of QI tools, while urging nurse leaders to adopt soulful, "thickly embodied" and people-centred approaches. This entails three interconnecting principles, which weave fluidly together in a deeply reflexive manner. By leading purposefully and critically, QI can be re-anchored to valuing people at the core, where patient, family and community well-being is intricately connected to that of the care workforce.